It's back to the future for the Browns as they head for the Big Apple.

Sunday's booking with the Jets will resemble a preseason game while serving as an audition for roles in 2014.

A win and $1.89 will get the Browns a large coffee at a New Jersey gas station, same as in a meaningless preseason game. At 4-10, they are out of the playoffs, and there is no spoiler role to play since the Jets are out, too.

Head coach Rob Chudzinski is doing what he must, acting like it matters.

"Our players continue to impress me in terms of their preparation and dedication to winning," he said after Friday's practice. "We've had a great week of practice and preparation."

Actually winning would have mattered barely more than a month ago. A win at Cincinnati would have pulled the Browns to 5-5 and added to momentum from the previous game, a win over Baltimore.

Joe Haden's pick-six helped them jump on top of the Bengals 13-0. They got floored with 31 points in the second quarter and still haven't come to.

The biggest thing on the line in East Rutherford, N.J., is position for next spring's draft across the water in Manhattan. Mathematically, the Browns are out of the playoffs but in the race for the No. 1 overall pick.

Some key points of business — and of some entertainment value (1 p.m. kickoff, CBS) — are in the fire. Five of note:

1. Quarterback Jason Campbell, who will turn 32 on New Year's Eve, basically has played three good games and three bad ones. Doing his best work against the Jets and Steelers could swing the offseason debate as to what to do with him.

2. Running-back roles for 2014 are wide open. Edwin Baker was on no one's radar until recently. Suddenly, after he looked quick and hungry against the Bears, it is being recalled that playing for Michigan State he had 22 carries for 147 yards in a win at Michigan. The brass has taken a quick liking to him.

Wouldn't it be something if two answers from out of the blue (Baker, quarterback Brian Hoyer) originated in East Lansing?

3. Tight end Marqueis Gray, like Baker, is a former Big Ten player who attracted notice against the Bears. He was a quarterback mostly but also a wide receiver and running back at Minnesota — he caught a touchdown pass against Baker's Michigan State team a week after Baker lit up Michigan.

With Jordan Cameron out with a concussion, a possible big role is planned for Gray against the Jets. This is not an emergency fill-in. The brass is very eager to seeing what this energetic, athletic 6-foot-4, 250-pounder can become.

4. Veteran wideout Davone Bess has been a disappointment and has been excused from practice for personal reasons.

Page 2 of 2 - The organization likes Josh Cooper well enough to have kept him around even after his former college teammate, Brandon Weeden, lost the quarterback job. Cooper might play a lot Sunday, and he needs a big game to rise above hanger-on status.

5. Chudzinski was asked to name a few players who have caught his eye as the team builds toward next year. He mentioned wideout Josh Gordon, tight end Cameron and safety Tashaun Gipson as guys who went from "not having played much to being in the forefront."

Then he dropped the names of two defensive backs whose futures are tied to how they handle opportunities against the Jets and Steelers.

"Josh Aubrey and Jordan Poyer ... I've seen a lot of improvement, and I think they have good futures," he said.